A historic prefectural workshop with a 400 year history of continued production in Fukuoka City’s Sawara District, as well as Nogata City in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Takatori ware was originally fired at the base of Mount Takatori in Fukuoka Prefecture’s Nogata City, and because of the Imjin War, Kuroda Nagamasa brought back a Korean potter named Hassan (Japanese name Hachizou Shigesada) who began baking Takatori ware. The workshop is said to have opened in 1600. The kilns at the workshop – Eimanji, Takuma, Uchigaso, and Yamada – are known as “Old Takatori”. It prospered as the official kiln for the Kuroda province during the Edo period, and by the Genna era, they summoned a potter from Karatsu and improved their technique. With the arrival of the Kanei era, the second daimyo Kuroda Takayuki increased relations with Kobori Enshu, producing many of Enshu’s favorite pieces. By that connection, it was included as one of the Enshu Nanagama, and became well-known as a production center for tea bowls. At present, their focus is on some of Enshu’s favorite refined tea bowls fired in the Shirahatasan kiln, known as “Enshu Takatori”.
